


Another Year

by LucidaCentury (Sephora909)



Series: HiatusSundayFloof [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 09:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3128831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephora909/pseuds/LucidaCentury
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumple doesn't celebrate the new year because it reminds him that it was another year without his son, but Belle is here to cheer him up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another Year

**Author's Note:**

> [Like and reblog it on Tumblr](http://lucidacentury.tumblr.com/post/107137589856/another-year-3-sunday-fluff-fest)

“Are you going to do something for new year’s eve?”

Belle’s question startled Rumplestiltskin. How could he answer her without being more rude than he usually was? He opted for the short version.

“No.”

“No?”

“I thought you read enough books to know what a simple ‘no’ means.”

His mocking grin earned him a glare from his lovely maid. Anger made her eyes sparkle with the most delightful fury.

“You’re already grumpy, you don’t have to be rude on top of that.”

Rumplestiltskin simply grunted. Lately, his maid had become quite plucky, and really, what was left for him to do except smirking at her? They were long past reprisals. But where did that leave them? As the coward that has always been, fear was forbidding him from dwelling on it. The only thing he knew for sure was she was worth the deal he had made with her.

* * *

Last day of the year. Last hour. Midnight was inexorably coming closer. As if there was anything to see, Rumplestiltskin was on the balcony of his tower, with his arms crossed on the wooden guardrail he was leaning on. Actually, he didn’t expect any change in the scenery. His eyes were clouded by his thought, by the past year that passed before them.

One more year searching the land for a portal to a world without magic and how much closer was he to his lost son? Torturing himself wouldn’t change anything, but he couldn’t help it. He rested his forehead against his arms and thought about those three hundred years, the work of several lifetimes, and what it brought him. Nothing. The most powerful man of the world wasn’t so strong, now. His own incompetence brought him on the edge of tears.

“Rumplestiltskin?” a soft voice called him.

Belle. She did chose her moment to make her entrance. He was torn between telling her to leave him and running away, since it was the only thing he was good at.

“I brought you some tea,” she said calmly.

She put her hand lightly on his shoulder, but didn’t ask what was wrong with him. He knew her insatiable curiosity must be gnawing at her, still she didn’t ask. He briefly covered her hand with his to tell her how grateful he was, then he straightened and looked at her.

Lovely as ever, his little maid watched him with her sea blue eyes full of tenderness, and the most soothing small smile. Rumplestiltskin had forgotten that this new year would be different. He had Belle to cheer him up when he felt down. His loneliness and desperation were in the past. If this slip of a woman could smile when she was so far from her family and friends, then he could be strong too.

“Thank you,” he whispered, not quite knowing if it was for the tea he took from her hands or the strength he drew from her smile.

“You’re welcome,” she whispered back.

They shared an impish smile, and even a short chuckle. Belle looked down and pressed her lips together, like she always did before asking something stupid.

“Can I stay with you?” she finally blurted out. “To wait for the new year?”

“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. “I’d like that.”

Dark One or not, everyone needed some light in their lives. He found his.


End file.
